Lily's Favorite Game
by GlowingRain
Summary: 6th year- James is into Lily big time, but so are most guys. Lily learns that he's very easy and very amusing to tease, and it soon becomes her favorite game. Doesn't deserve an R rating yet- I just put it on here to be safe.
1. Embarrassment Ensues

**~Disclaimer~ I don't own Harry Potter or anything else you recognize. Credit is J.K. Rowling's. I am merely using her characters and weaving them into a crazy plot of my own.**

**A/N: Why hello. So nice to meet you =) Not much to say so- on to the story!**

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Chapter One- Embarrassment Ensues

            Sixteen-year-old James Potter leaned back into the comforting bubbles of the prefect bathtub. Or more like prefect pool. After a long day of pranks and classes, it was just the right relaxation. He sighed; it felt like he was melting...

        Abruptly the door to the bathroom was pushed open gently and a fiery-looking redhead peeked around. James watched her mistily, unbothered by the fact that he was naked and bathing; the bubbles covered everything. Not that it mattered anyway. This was Lily Evans and he had deemed her irresistibly sexy long ago. However, being her fellow Gryffindor prefect had not helped his chances at getting anywhere near her object of affection.

       James' forehead creased when she spotted him with dark green eyes and smiled, almost a smirk. She never smiled at him. Why should she? She needn't waste her time with not-as-popular James Potter, when she had pretty nice-looking guys simply falling at her feet.

       "Need me to get out?" he asked wonderingly, trying not to blush. Him, blush? Oh, the embarrassment...

       This time, he was sure she smirked, "No. I was thinking I'd get in."

He stared at her, his eyes becoming wider. She couldn't possibly mean- he clamped his mouth shut heavily. She paid him no mind at all as she began to work at unbuttoning her robes. Wait- unbuttoning her robes! In front of him! "Shameless." he muttered to himself, smiling greedily.

       "What was that?" she asked in an attempt to sound innocent, causing James to look up at her and swallow hard. Winking at him, she slipped slowly into the warm water and swam over to him. He could feel her breath on his cheek…

       James jerked awake and mumbled something inaudibly. Another stupid dream...always got his hopes up impossibly. As if the beautiful redhead would ever give him the light of day. "Yeah, you wish." he grumbled, heaving himself out of the water and wrapping a towel around his dripping body. He stretched and pulled his clothes on. 

       At that moment, Lily did walk in. It's a good thing he had just put clothes on. He was sure he hadn't fallen back asleep this time; she stopped a few feet away from him and tapped her foot against the floor, watching him with that intent glance that made him feel tingly...he loved and hated it at the same time.

       "Would you mind leaving? I need to take a bath before my date tonight, and I'd much prefer to take it alone." James jumped, falling out of his trance.   

       "Er- of course. Um, sorry. See you later." he replied quickly, shifting his feet and heading towards the door.

       "James?" she called. He blinked slowly and spun around on his heel. She was holding up his spare pair of boxers he had forgotten to grab.

       He blushed uncontrollably, walking back over to her and grabbing them from out of her outstretched hand. "T-thanks." he managed to say, a bit higher than usual. He refused to look into her amused face. 

       James looked back at her once before leaving, and saw her carefully unbuttoning her clothes. He had to force himself to leave.

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       James Potter was a fool. Yes, that's right. He thought he himself was a fool. But a damn good one. The messy-haired boy grinned cutely as he entered the sixth year boys' dorm.

       Sirius was sitting on his bed… reading. Wait a moment-

"Padfoot? Something wrong?"

      The brown-haired boy looked up and answered with a straight face, "Of course not. Whatever gave you that idea?"

       James confusedly trod over to his best friend's bed and looked over his shoulder. "Witch Weekly?! Not again! You've gone crazy!"

       Remus chuckled. "Not this time, though I have my doubts. Look at the title of the article."

       James read aloud with a lop-sided smile, "10 Things a Guy _Should _Do." he sighed. "Pathetic. Just pathetic."

       Sirius snapped it shut and gave James a sideways glance. "And I see how efficient your methods are."

       James shrugged and replied smartly, dropping onto his bed, "Maybe I like being single."

       "Ha, yeah right." His friend snorted. "That's why you look all put out when Lily Evans is making out with some guy in the common room every other evening- and a different guy too." He chuckled, obviously finding himself amusing.

            Sandy-haired Remus broke in, "Speaking of Lily Evans, you have a prefect meeting tomorrow morning, don't you Prongs? 'Cause the full moon's tomorrow night, don't forget."

            "Yeah." He sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "Those meetings are torture, I tell you."

            Sirius sniggered. "Only because you have to sit by Lily and her leg occasionally rubs up against yours."

            "Hey! How would you know-" James clamped his mouth shut, and then quickly blurt out, "Well at least _I didn't write that I wanted to be the first black president of the United States when I grew up!"_

            "What? It's a perfectly good ambition!"

"Padfoot! You aren't black- _and_ you're British!"

            Sirius only shrugged, leaning back against his pillow. "You forget, anyways. I changed my mind. That was back in first year, ya know."

            James rolled his eyes. "What do you want to be now, then?"

"The first _female_ black president!"

            James and Remus could only chuckle as they snapped off the lights. Peter was already out cold.

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            James was awoken by a smack in the face, and his dream was so unpleasantly interrupted by his noisy best friend jumping on his bed, swinging his arms about mercilessly. "Blood hell Sirius, get off my damn bed!"

            "Temper at its best, I see." Was all Sirius said as he slipped off.

Remus smiled. "You need to get up anyways James. Only five minutes until the prefect meeting."

            "Shit!" James yelled, toppling out of his sheets and onto the floor, a bit tangled. 

"Oh- _now_ you thank me." Sirius crossed his arms. "We'll discuss this later."

            "My socks! Dammit, where's my other sock!"

"Right here." Peter threw it at his chest, and he hurriedly put it on, scrambling into crumpled robes. 

            "You're so lucky you get to miss Transfiguration for that dumb meeting." Sirius grumbled.

            "Whatever." James fled out the door, and near the end of the staircase, ran smack into someone else who was also frantic.

            He looked up. Not again, he groaned. Of course it had to be only the hottest girl around. "I'm sorry." James apologized hurriedly.

            Lily Evans rubbed her head and grimaced. "'S okay. I shouldn't have been running."

"Me neither." He said, feeling a bit stupid. She began to walk away. "Lily?"

            "Yes?" she turned around. Why the hell did his heart rate always speed up when those eyes perused him? He had to be going crazy…then again, even Remus admitted that she was damn fine.

            "We could- er- walk to the meeting together."

She smiled and shrugged. "Why not. Hurry up, though. I think we're already late."

            Once outside the portrait hole, Lily was hurriedly striding down the hallway, robes flaring up around her. James found it very attractive as he attempted to keep up and by her side. "So- why are you running late?"

            "Oh, right." She replied, waving a hand. "Late night."  
He swallowed and his grin faded. Letting out a sigh she seemed not to notice, he said, in an attempt to make her think he was funny at the very least, "I caught Sirius reading Witch Weekly last night." His eyes sparkled, but she didn't laugh.

            Lily gave him a funny look and then gave a small, close-lipped smile. "More like Bitch Weekly."

            "What?"  
"Oh- nothing. I'll explain later." 

            He suddenly noticed that they were entering the empty classroom that had always been reserved for prefect meetings and clamped his mouth shut. They took the last two seats empty in the back. Hilary Bunglestat, the Head Girl that year, gave them a mild glare. 

            "Why are you late _this time?" she asked as if they were always late._

Lily laid a hand on his knee, trying to silence him. It certainly did. "Well, a first year got stuck in a collapsing step. We stopped to help her." She explained innocently.

            Hilary's dark eyes squinted unbelievingly in an unfriendly stare, until she finally replied, "Alright. Just don't again."

            Lily grunted softly and removed her hand from James' knee, and grinned to herself when she noticed how tense it made him when she touched any part of his body. She had that effect on guys sometimes, she knew. But she had never known that James was one of them. 

            The meeting went on, and on, and was rather boring. The red-head was in a rather teasing mood. She smiled surreptitiously and reached one hand up to the back of James neck, and his lower head. She slowly massaged her hands through his untidy black hair, causing him to shiver and his eyes to widen. She grinned deviously. 

            The duration of the meeting was spent with Lily finding every means she could to tease James, and James feeling helpless and unsettled. When Hilary finally made a closing statement, the pretty red-head leapt out of her seat and sprung towards the door. James, realizing that she had just left, and everyone else was too, jumped out of his chair and hurried after her. He caught up with her and grabbed her arm to slow her down as he panted and slowly began to regain composure. Somewhat. 

            "Yes James?" she asked in an oh so innocent voice.

He frowned. "What was- what were you- I-"

            "Oh, you mean back at the meeting? I thought it was obvious." She crossed her arms over the bag she was carrying. A Charms book was sticking out; they both had Charms as their next class.

            He spluttered, "You mean you want-"

She laughed suddenly, cutting him off and puzzling him further. "Sorry James, you're not my type. Maybe if you worked out a bit more and, well I dunno, I'd consider it. But until then," she squeezed his arm enticingly, "you're not sharing my bed." She smiled to herself and hurried away, leaving him standing there, confused and a little disappointed. Embarrassed, too. _She knows I've thought about- about sharing her bed? Well of course she does, you idiot, I'm sure every guy in the school has at some point!_

He shook his head, walking into the Charms classroom just as the bell rang. He headed over to the two tables where Remus and Peter were sitting together, Sirius behind him. He sat down next to Sirius, who winked at him and whispered, "How was the meeting?" in an amused tone, indicating the smug Lily seated a few desks away.

            "Horrible." James groaned. "And I need to find some weights."

"Exercise equipment?" Sirius inquired, bewildered. 

            "You heard me."

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**A/N: Okay, so it's a bit weird and doesn't really deserve an R rating quite yet. But was it any good? Please review!! I'll give you a cookie…or maybe not…**


	2. Tease, Don't Snog

Chapter Two- Tease, Don't Snog

       James stumbled under the weight he was carrying and laughed. Sirius shook his head, Peter trailing him.

          "Tell me again, James." he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "Why did you need those weights?"

       James just grunted something that sounded like, "L"

"Prongs, pal. I hate to tell you this but- she was only kidding. She's not that mean, I don't think, for one. And for another, why would she consider you even with- muscles?" he coughed behind his fist and stuck out his chest. "Me, however-"

       "Oh, shut it. Even if she wasn't serious, I don't care. I want to impress her."

          This caused nothing short of a burst of laughter from both Sirius and Peter. Poor Remus was back in the Shrieking Shack, and the three of them were heading back to Hogwarts. Judging by the position of the moon, one would say it was about two in the morning, give or take a little.

       "I don't care what you say." James said matter-of-factly, giving them a sidelong glance. "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to seduce that girl. Give her a taste of her own medicine."

       This only caused his two friends to laugh harder, doubling up and clutching their stomachs, as if he had just announced that he was going to overthrow Dumbledore.

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          James was feeling a little, well, a little of everything. He was not very happy about the exercise "operation", as his friends so amusingly called it. It was too annoying; he hated having to do it. So he decided that it wouldn't be his first priority. Instead, he tried to think of ways to get Lily back. Although, he knew very well that whatever his plan might be, upon the first touch of her hand or leg, he would completely forget everything that was remotely close to sanity. 

          Grumbling to himself, he scanned his dorm and noticed that none of his friends were back yet. He had no idea where they were either. Should he? He tapped his chin and decided that they must be out making fun of him again. Laughing, James hopped off his bed and ambled down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room.

          To his dismay, the first thing to catch his eye was a flash of red. It was obvious that it would happen though; it was as if she had started stalking him. Him! And this would have been a good thing, oh yes, if it weren't for-

          Something touched his arm lightly, traveling down to his hand. James turned, realizing that he had been staring at where Lily had been, not where she was. She _was _right beside him.

          "Hey, James. Fancy seeing you here."

He couldn't help but smile at her. So he did. "Uhgg." Was all that came out of his mouth afterwards.

          Lily gave him a lopsided grin that he found absolutely appealing. "What if I told you that the prefects' bathroom was empty?" Her grin turned hopelessly sweet and she ran a finger up his arm again. He jerked away quickly; she raised an eyebrow. "You won't take me up on the offer?" she smiled and shrugged. "Maybe another time then." Giving him one more glance, she sauntered off to her little corner where she could always be found, surrounded by her friends and a few hopeful guys.

          James took a deep breath at her departure. He cursed himself. Why did he always let the simple smell of her render him speechless? Or the way one eye crinkled when she smiled. Hell, he even thought the way she smirked when she was teasing him was striking. It was really too bad that all guys seemed to feel the same way he did. It proved to him that he had nothing on them, so he couldn't possibly have a chance with Lily. Or could he? She was looking at him again. Yes, there it was. The nightly wink. He shook his head, willed himself not to grin at her, and failed, again. 

          He maneuvered himself through a crowd of fourth years to the spot in the corner opposite Lily, where he and the Marauders usually hung out. And what a surprise- two minutes after he settled himself into a comfortable chair, Sirius, Remus, and Peter come scuttling up. Sirius and Remus were grinning, the latter looking a little rough around the edges from his recent ailment. Peter had this sort of wet smile on his face.

          James tapped a finger against the arm of his chair. "What havoc have you been wrecking, and why wasn't I included?"  
          "Why because Wormtail here said you were busy." Sirius exclaimed on the spot, waving his arms about and pointing at Peter, who shrugged and replied, 

          "I did not."

Remus rolled his eyes, plopping into the seat next to James, who was trying to flatten his hair and avoid Lily's gaze at the same time. "We weren't doing anything exciting anyhow. Just another one of Padfoot's hopeless food cravings."

          James looked skeptical. "Then why did it take so long?"  
"We er, got into some trouble with one of the suits of armor. I swear Snape put a curse on it."

          "Yeah!" Peter added excitedly. "It was following us around and slashing its sword all over the place."

          Remus said, "Not bad, actually. We should thank Snape for the entertainment."

          "That won't be necessary." Sirius importantly adjusted his robes. "I've already cursed it to follow him around all day tomorrow. Yup, it should be waiting outside the Slytherin common room right now."

          "Whoever knew." James said, smiling and staring into the fire, which was about five meters away. This was when he made the mistake of glancing in Lily's direction. She looked a bit flustered, and annoyed, by the two guys talking to her and heedlessly resting their hands on places she didn't seem to want them to. The fiery red-head quickly spotted him and pointed to the portrait hole. 

          Who was James to refuse something of that sort? He looked at his friends and bellowed, "I'll catch you guys, er, later."

          Sirius followed his gaze with hazel eyes and winked. "You have fun now."

          James ignored him and proceeded to head towards the portrait hole. He slipped outside and glanced around. The corridors were nearly empty, for a Saturday night. It was, after all, ten at night though. Most people were in their common rooms. Or the Astronomy tower. Lily tumbled out of the Gryffindor entrance; he immediately regretted thoughts along Astronomy tower lines.

          "Hello." She said, and James was amazed once again at how she could turn such a simple greeting into a means used to lure him.

          "Hi." He replied. They smiled at each other, as he continued to stare down at her. Her face was impassible; it was impossible for him to figure out any of her thoughts. "Lily?"

          "Yes?" she asked, wrapping a small hand around his arm.  
He quickly gathered courage. He wasn't shy around anyone else, why her? "What are we, exactly?" she opened her mouth, but he interrupted, "I mean, you tease me all the time. We've spent a lot of time together since sixth year started. You never paid any attention to me before. But it's not like we snog or anything…and you said I needed to work out…so, what are we?"

          She laughed. "James, you're funny. You still remember me saying you needed to work out? I was only kidding. You know, it was for a laugh…don't take it so personally. Although," she held up a hand. "that still doesn't mean you're my type of guy. You're just…not. To say the truth, I don't have a type of guy."

          "What?" 

She laughed again, her dark emerald eyes sparkling at him in the dark. She pushed him into a nearby empty classroom and began again, "We're friends, I thought. Why, you thought something else?"

          "N-no."

"Oh, I see." She pulled herself onto a desk. "You want us to be something else. You know, James, this is a game. You can play or not play. But I'll tell you one thing, I always win."

          "What?"  
She muttered something along the lines of, "idiot men." before saying, "Forget it." Unable to let him go on not knowing, though, she blurted out, "I was saying that we're just fooling around. Like friends. We don't snog, you know. We just…tease each other in turns. Although, it's always my turn." She smiled and ran a hand along his thigh, causing his eyes to light up. He was sitting next to her on the desk.

          "Can't I have a turn?"  
"We'll see. Maybe someday. But you'll have to be quicker than me."

          He raised up a hand and stopped, realizing that he had no idea what he was doing at all. So she kept going and ruffled his already ruffled hair a bit, scooting closer and leaning into him, wondering all the while why she wasn't back in the common room with everyone else. Why had she pulled James all the way out here to do…nothing at all?

          Abruptly, she realized that his head was dangerously close to hers, and his lips were almost touching hers. She pulled back, smiling, and hopped off the desk. "Nice try. But there's no snogging in this game." She patted his knee as he climbed down after her. "And I only dragged you out here for a friendly chat anyways. I'd better head back to the common room." At the door, she turned back around and added, "Coming?"

          He scrambled to her side, happy to be near her, and frustrated over it all the same. They walked back to the portrait hole together in silence. Before he could enter, though, she held out an arm in front of him and pushed him about until he faced her. 

          "I haven't said goodnight yet." Before he could do anything about it, she pulled his shoulders down slightly, since he was taller, and kissed his cheek. Not satisfied with his reaction, she lowered her head and kissed his jaw, his neck, and anything else her lips happened to reach. 

          He moaned and spluttered out, "Lily, don't- I need-"

She pulled back a little, but still remained close enough that he was intoxicated by her. Suddenly she smiled. Not a smirk, like usual, but just a smile. For him. He smiled back carefully, before she added, "See you tomorrow." with a wink, and ruined all of his hopeful expectations.

          James watched her trample through the portrait hole back into the common room, and resolved that if nothing else, he would be quicker than her and snog her senseless someday. And if that could be successful, the next step would be merciless seduction…Amid these happy thoughts, he tried not to remember that this was just what Lily was being more successful at doing with him, minus the snogging, of course.

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          Lily nibbled on the end of her quill, rolling over in her mind what the past week, or maybe longer, had brought her. James, certainly, and her new game of teasing him. But what was it really?

          She heard laughing outside her empty (except for her) dorm and scowled. Despite her reputation, despite everything, she did not enjoy the company of her peers. She realized, absently, that they secretly thought of her as a ruthless bitch. Maybe she was, but she liked to think that there was something more to herself. And she wasn't as much of a bitch as everyone thought she was. Oh sure, she acted like one, but who didn't act? Surely one day, people might get sick of saying horrid things about her (that were only half true) when they thought she couldn't hear. In the mean time, her constant act was enough to keep her satisfied. Hey, whatever works for you, right?

          James was truly the only person whose company she liked, even if she did convince herself otherwise. As seems obvious, Lily Evans was a very contradictory person. But she had her reasons. And God forbid, what if someone learned that she wasn't just pretending to be a little attracted to James? No, that would never happen; because she would never admit to it. That resolution led to another: she must never kiss him. If she really meant to keep teasing him like this, she didn't trust herself to do that. Maybe she could without consequence, but then again, maybe she couldn't. So she decided not to risk it, and keep the teasing on a low level. At least for the time being. They must never see behind her cruel exterior; she rather enjoyed having guys fall at her feet, and she certainly meant to keep it that way. 

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**A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed, I really appreciated your comments. Yes- Lily is a bitch! But not really….if that makes any sense at all. She doesn't even know! Okay, I'm off to finish my homework, so goodnight all, and please be kind enough to leave me a review!**


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